by Gary Betts

Created on: December 31, 2007   Last Updated: July 18, 2011

The voter has certainly become irrelevant in U.S. politics. That's because the U.S. political system is broken and needs to be fixed.

For example, the only people that are allowed to run for president are those with lots of money and connections in one of only two political parties. On top of that, the popular vote in presidential elections is ignored in favor of the Electoral College. The president is not elected by the people, but by the states.

And because there are only two parties, a person can be elected to Congress and just sit on his rear end. He may even take the odd bribe. But when the next election rolls around, that person knows he has a 50-50 chance of being re-elected.

Just take a look at the U.S. Supreme Court. These nine justices are probably the most powerful people in America. They can over rule the states, Congress, the president. They can even make law. And the only body that can over rule them is the U.S. Supreme Court itself. These guys are appointed for life. No vote and no oversight.

All is not lost, however. But America must fix its own political system before it runs around the world trying to bring democracy to people who do not want it.

The Electoral College must be abolished with the president being elected by popular vote. Plus any U.S. citizen must be allowed to run for president regardless of party affiliation. The presidential veto must be done away with. One person should not be allowed to veto any legislation passed by Congress. Furthermore, the Executive Branch must not have the right to interfere with the Legislative Branch.

All American people must be represented in Congress and be given the right to vote for president. The District of Columbia should have two senators. All American possessions should be able to elect Representatives with voting rights on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Finally, with the enormous power that they have, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court should be elected to fixed terms by the American people. This would have to be done on a staggering basis like the Senate.

Political change in the U.S., however, will never happen because of the Founding Fathers. They wanted to keep the people from having a direct say in how America is run. And they made sure it would never be changed because amendments to the Constitution are hard to achieve. Maybe impossible to achieve when the Republicans and Democrats are faced with a loss of their God-given monopoly on power.

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